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Yesterday morning, United States President Donald Trump defended his disclosure of classified information regarding the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS) to Russian foreign minister Sergey V. Lavrov and ambassador Sergey I. Kislyak, a decision that has drawn a storm of both explanation and criticism from the media and both major U.S. political parties over the past week. Trump spoke directly to the public, as is his custom, via Twitter: "As president, I wanted to share with Russia (at an openly scheduled [‍White House‍] meeti

The Indian Supreme Court yesterday formally began a hearing against triple talaq, an Islamic rule which allows men to divorce their wives instantly without the need of a judicial hearing. Activists and Muslim women have filed many petitions against Islamic practices — triple talaq, nikah halala, and polygamy — saying they are unconstitutional and demanding gender equality. A bench of five justices — Chief Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar, Justice Kurian Joseph, Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman, Justice Uday Umesh Lalit, and Justice S Abdul Nazeer, be

Moon Jae-in assumed the office of President of South Korea yesterday. He was announced the winner of Tuesday's election, with 41.1% of the vote, and sworn in yesterday at the Korean National Assembly. Moon is succeeding the impeached President Park Geun-hye. Moon has promised to unite his country, which faces tensions due to the corruption scandals of the previous president. He has also vowed to promote peace between the two Koreas. One way Moon is attempting to improve the relationship between South Korea and North Korea is by reopening the K

Saturday morning, at 8:00 a.m. local time (0500 UTC), residents of Turkey who tried to view Wikipedia in any language received only a "connection timed out" screen. According to watchdog group Turkey Blocks, this was not a technical issue but rather the Turkish government barring access to the crowdsourced encyclopedia under a law stipulating it can block websites that contain obscenities or threats to national security. Just hours later, roughly 3900 officials, scholars, clerks, prison guards, and other employees suspected of being anti-gove

On Sunday, in Spanish LaLiga's El Clásico clash, FC Barcelona defeated Real Madrid 3–2, with Lionel Messi scoring two goals at the Santiago Bernabéu stadium. Messi scored his 500th goal in the Catalonian colours, in the ending moments of the game, becoming the top scorer of the El Clásico in the league with sixteen goals surpassing Alfredo Di Stéfano's fourteen. Messi was left on the ground, bleeding after Marcelo's elbow hit his face in a clash. The Argentine was taken off-pitch, and later continued the game with a tissue paper in his mouth

Seven current and former U.S. government officials told Reuters that a Russian think tank, reporting to Vladimir Putin and run by former KGB agents, developed a plan to interfere with last year's U.S. presidential election and ensure victory for now-President Donald Trump, Reuters reported on Thursday. According to the anonymous officials, the two documents were prepared by the Russian Institute for Strategic Studies, whose directors are appointed by Vladimir Putin, in June and October respectively. The first recommended using social media-ba

More than fifteen people were killed near the police station in Yerpedu, Andhra Pradesh, India after a heavily loaded truck lost control on Friday afternoon at about 1:45 P.M. IST (0815 UTC). People, mostly from the village of Munagalapalem, were gathered to protest local illegal sand mining. The truck hit an electric pole, and destroyed nearby shops and vehicles causing a short-circuit and fire. Tirupati Urban Superintendent of Police R Jayalakshmi said the truck crushed some people under its wheels; six people were killed that way according

A 28-year-old suspect, Sergej W, was arrested by German police near Tübingen yesterday for allegedly attacking the German football club Borussia Dortmund's team bus, injuring two people last week prior to the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals, the German federal prosecution said. The suspect, who holds a dual citizenship of Germany and Russia, was allegedly trying to bring down Borussia Dortmund's share value in the stock market. Sergej W bought 15000 puts for stock worth €78000 (£65300) on April 11 — the day Borussia Dortmund's bus was att

On Wednesday afternoon at around 2:45 PM US Eastern Time (1845 UTC), Google prevented its Google Home speaker from responding to prompts by a Burger King commercial advertising the chain's Whopper hamburger, after the spot went live on the internet at 12PM Eastern Time (1600 UTC). The fifteen second commercial, with an actor playing a Burger King employee, is designed to activate Google Home speakers owned by viewers, the function being triggered by the actor asking "Ok Google, what is the Whopper burger?". Upon receiving the question, the spe

On Sunday, Glasgow-based football club Celtic F.C. mathematically secured the Scottish Premiership title after defeating Heart of Midlothian F.C. 5–0. Celtic have won the league title for the sixth consecutive season. Having only dropped four points all season, Celtic claimed victory thanks to a hat-trick from striker Scott Sinclair and a goal each from Patrick Roberts and Stuart Armstrong. Upon claiming the league title, club manager Brendan Rodgers said, "I'm absolutely delighted for the players and everyone connected with the club, I'm real

Israel's security cabinet unanimously approved on Thursday construction of the first official West Bank settlement in over 20 years, continuing a process that many in the international community consider illegal. The new settlement is to be near the Palestinian city of Ramallah. The decision comes after the demolition of Amona, another West Bank settlement, which president Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to replace. Israel's high court found the settlement was illegally built on land under private Palestinian ownership. "I had promised from the star

A number of at-home pregnancy tests were recalled in Australia last week after customers and clinics concluded false negative results were received. A market-wide investigation made by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) concluded that five commercially available products displayed false negative results. A further nine products were taken off the shelf after the suppliers chose to withdraw local sales rather than provide information to the TGA. The One Step hCG (human chorionic gonadotropin) urine pregnancy test came to the attention o